Taking Documentary Fieldwork was never on my Muhlenberg agenda, and I would have been shocked if someone had told me a few years ago that I would be in a course with that title. After having secured an internship in Washington D.C. primarily because of the work I did in Doc Research, and subsequently finding a passion for digestible history writing, and digital storytelling through that internship, I was immediately drawn to signing up for this course once Dr. Ranieri told me it would be focused around the Allentown Band. Finally having the opportunity to geek out about band in an academic setting, while also getting to do work that seemed oriented towards a potential career path sounded like a dream come true.
Coming into this class, I was familiar with digital storytelling, and for the most part, the tech side of what this course might entail. I was not, however, familiar with what the archival side would be like, or how it would play into our experience other than using archival material in our projects. To this end, I found the archival theory, material processing, and finding aid creation to be really informative and interesting. It was really cool to have the opportunity to handle the material, and be up close and personal with the letters and photos. It was also amazing to get to try out, and have exposure to a field that I wouldn’t be able to find in any other class at Muhlenberg.
Doing the oral history was also a really interesting opportunity, and I’m happy to have experienced it, but it’s not the part of the process that I would prefer doing. That being said, I really enjoyed meeting Caitlin and the immediate connection that we shared, and I appreciate having learned the skill of oral history. The field trip to the Moravian Archive was interesting in that it helped in putting archival work in context, as far as the differences and similarities between archives, and the different formats and methods for organizing archives. Going to Wenner Hall was also so crucial in understanding the work that we were doing for the Band, and being able to picture and understand so much of their history and surroundings. I regret not being able to see the Band in action due to so many scheduling conflicts, but hope to hear them live in the near future, especially now feeling so personally close to them and their story.
The readings at the beginning of the course were helpful in contextualizing the storytelling aspect, but they did seem to be a bit of a reiteration of the work we did in Doc Research, and I had some difficulty following the progression of the way the readings fit together. Additionally, there was often some confusion about deadlines that could be difficult to navigate, but I recognize that this was a product of starting the class from scratch, and I wouldn’t anticipate future iterations of this course having that issue. As far as the final project, I really enjoyed that we were able to present our work in a different form of digital storytelling than documentary. I was under the impression entering this course that we would be required to make a documentary, and while I wouldn’t have minded this, I prefer other types of digital storytelling and was appreciative that we got to create this outlet ourselves, and could explore different forms.
Overall, this course gave me an opportunity to continue pursuing work that I’ve recently become more interested in and passionate about, so I was able to really use this experience to continue directing myself towards what I would like to do post-graduation. For that reason, this course was something that felt really practical and relevant for me to take in my senior year, with the added bonus of getting to do research, and talk about band a few extra times a week.
